We have seen a few special editions from Dodge and Plymouth and this 1974 Plymouth Gold Duster may be one of the nicer examples, even if it isn’t the most graphics-heavy one. It can be found here on eBay in Hendersonville, North Carolina with an $8,500 buy it now price or you can make an offer.
Plymouth’s Duster, at least for the U.S. market, was a fastback coupe similar to the Dodge Dart Sport and Plymouth spent $15-million on the update from the previous Valiant body style for the 1970 model year. The Gold Duster package was an upgrade with some luxury touches as – are you sitting down? – carpet, all-vinyl seating surfaces, whitewall tires, and extra sound insulation. Maybach, look out! They also made the Space Duster – extra space with a fold-down rear seat, Feather Duster – no lie, that’s the name, it was 187 pounds lighter due to aluminum parts and other weight-saving measures, and a Silver Duster – basically a stripe and interior package.
Most of the Gold Dusters that I have seen have been gold in color so it’s a little unusual for me at least to see a white one. This example is wearing new paint from a couple of decades ago but it retains its original snakeskin (print) vinyl top. The seller says that it has 41,300 miles on it and it sure looks nice. They give the body an 8 out of 10 which seems pretty low to me given how great this car looks in the photos.
The interior in this car looks more than nice, it looks like new to me. The seller has provided a lot of great photos including a few of the underside which is always nice to see. The seats both front and rear look like new to me, it’s hard to believe that they’re 45 years old and in this condition. I mean, not hard to believe as in I don’t believe it, but hard to believe as in that’s incredible that they’re original. They do say that there’s one seam on the front seat that’s loosening up a bit but it’s hard to see.
This engine looks pretty clean but with a fair amount of surface rust on metal parts as you’d expect after four decades. The base engine was a 198 cubic-inch slant-six and for $40 a buyer could upgrade to the more popular 225 slant-six, which this one is in decoding the VIN. A 318 and 360 V8 were also available. This slant-six runs and drives like new. Have any of you heard of the Plymouth Gold Duster?
A young lady who lived down the street from me in the late 70s had a Feather Duster. I got a kick out of the name. It was a gutless piece of crap, but at least it was lightweight. What that car needed was a ‘68 – ‘70-era steel crank 340.
I thought every fan of the the A-body had a copy of “Duster-Demon – A Source Book.” That’s where I learned about the Gold Duster. My copy is around here somewhere…
A god running SS Feather Duster could almost get 30 MPG on a flat road trip. Pretty good for the day. You needed a four speed OD to do that, but it was quite the feat when the average MPG back then was 14 or 15.
My Brothers first car, a 1970 Gold Duster, I was 7 years his junior but I kinda thought of it as mine too, lot of good memories of my Brother spent in and around that car,
He still talks about the car to this day, we had a lot of fun in that car………….
AAAAAAL, he called it a Dodge, but Al Bundy’s car was actually a Duster. Man, that was a funny show. At one time, like mid 70’s, these were so popular. Most, feeling the gas crunch, had 6 cylinders, but before econoboxes hit the scene, these were what people traded their gas guzzling muscle cars in on. Most were beat to death, again, rust mostly killed these, still running great on the way to boneyard. Fun to see one like this again, but I’d rather have the 6.
My best friend in high school had a dark green Duster gold. I remember getting a ride to school in it, he was a few months older, that Duster was a symbol of freedom to us 15-16 year olds. It was a 318 and was slow, but us gear heads were in heaven ! Great memories !
If a 318 is slow to you, then you need to rethink your lifestyle because it will not end well. I got into plenty of trouble with a 318 back in the day. Besides, a 318 was the very best compromise between a slant six (also a good enough choice) and a 340 that would upset your insurance agent and your Dad.
Gold Dusters were pretty common in my neck of the woods. Chrysler advertised them heavily. I seem to recall one campaign that described vinyl that “looked like it came off the back of a gold reptile”. I found a solid used ’74 for a cousin in the late 70s. It was a pleasant car and very reliable. I think his had the fold-down back seat and was this color. Rust finally took it after several years of hard use in the rust belt and Vermont.
Gold Dusters were fairly popular , it was a higher trim level than your run of the mill duster , the snakeskin vinyl roof, full wheel caps and possibly stripes but not much else . A/C would have been an option as would the 318 v8 . I had a honey gold 1972 Gold Duster with a 318 . It didn’t have a stripe , just the vinyl roof. It was one of many A bodies I owned ; I probably paid $500 bucks for it -I remember it was fairly powerful for what it was ,not as powerful as my 340, but lots more fun than the 225. One winter the starter was giving me problems and we had to hit it with a tire iron to start for a while . When I tried to fix it I couldn’t ge the bolts out to remove it so I gave it to a buddy of mine and I bought a 78 Volare , that turned out to be a good move, I got over 200,000 on the Volare and the Duster later blew a head gasket and my buddy junked it.
My folks bought a 1974 Gold Duster in 1978 that had about 10k miles on it. The 225 slant six was horribly choked down by then with the smog requirements. It was a nice car otherwise and still got over 20 mpg on the road. They kept it for over 10 years trouble free.
OMG: I looked at that underhood picture and that snarl of hoses and fixtures and thought it was a V8 crammed in there.
Quite different from my 63 ! Even with it’s aftermarket AC.
74 was the worst year for smog control contraptions. Even my Father said he would never buy a 74 model new or used because of it: stalling, farting back through the carb, lots of them cut out on hard right or left turns [see PM or CR], lousy gas mileage compared to prior years. Lots of beta testing of these devices on a captive public.
I’m sure that’s all been de-bugged after 45 years and this is a nice example.
BFF had a 73 Gold Duster in that funky bronze/brown metallic. At one point was even able to get a refrigerator in the trunk to move to a new apartment.
Always seemed way too big for the amount of room inside [and the federal bumpers didn’t help], especially the back seat, but that was the way of things back then.
Funny I was just reading a Road Test magazine this morning featuring the new 74 models.”X Raying the 74s”.
Made 40 minutes on my exercise device fly by.
Actually I would say the later 70s Chryslers with the “lean burn system ” were far worse . Most of the hoses and bulkiness under this cars hood is from the A/C . You have the PCV system, the charcoal canister and a few vacuum trees , but its still a fairly basic 225 .
What a perfect affordable car for someone getting into the hobby! Those slant six’s would go forever. Somebody took care of this car!
Cover of that RT magazine said “X Raying the 74’s”. Editor didn’t catch the typo apparently.
Should have read “74s” not “74’s”. Plural not possessive.
Holy schnikes, I’d better watch myself and my punctuation! Good eye, DW.
Since its a 1974, I wonder if it has the anti-start safety belt device? From what I understand, you could drive right off the lot and to an independent shop and they’d disable it for you. Does anyone here remember that craziness and have stories about the pluses and minuses of the model year?
I bought my 73 340 Duster in 79 . It had the key/door buzzer for the first 15 minutes that I owned it, once I got it home, I disconnected it. Still own the car, and its still disconnected !
Yes, all you had to do was remove the sensor from beneath the seat cushion. No independent shop required…my sensor is still laying underneath the seat on my ’74 Challenger, currently @ 69k actual miles! :-)
We had a base Duster. We called it the Ruster. But it started on the coldest days when the neighbor’s new (1986) BMW wouldn’t start. We loved that.
I think Dodge missed an opportunity…how about one with a moonroof, and call it the “Moon Duster”. It would have fit perfectly with the era.
I remember seeing Dody Goodman and Zsa Zsa Gabor on The Tonight show all those years ago. Dody was telling a story about pulling into the garage in her Gold Duster at the same time Zsa Zsa was pulling in, in her Rolls convertible.
These were all over the place when I was a kid, 9 times outta 10 they had the “gold” package. As a teen & young adult in the late 1980’s & early 1990’s, I owned a couple. I always like the Chrysler A body cars. I found them to handle good & give decent mileage. Sure, I love all cars & I love my toys, but even as a kid I always appreciated gas mileage & utility. That’s why I have a Hyundai sedan (rated @ 37 mpg on the highway but I can squeeze 42 out on a regular basis), yet I still have a 1972 Eldorado convertible & my Harleys (now 1 Harley after one was killed by a chick on a cell phone tried to kill me with it). Making room for a 1951 Pontiac convertible too. If I wasn’t making room for that ’51 Pontiac, this would be awful tempting to me.
The Plymouth Duster has always been my dream car ! This car appears to be in beautiful condition ! That 225 slant six, in my opinion, was a excellent, well built engine. Any upgrade I may do is install a different manifold with a two barrel carb making it a “Super six” like my Dads Plymouth Volare had under the hood. If this car is still for sale, I may be interested in it.